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Exhibitions

Upcoming

Guided tour of our current exhibitions.

anmeldung@kunsthalle-bielefeld.de
T 0521 329995018
Fridays from 3 p.m., at weekends and on public holidays on T 0521 32999500

Would you like to look at pictures, talk about them and be creative yourself? Are you between 5 and 12 years old?
Then you are welcome every Saturday in our painting room! During these two hours, we will get to know the Kunsthalle and its exhibitions and be inspired to create our own works.

Come at short notice at the beginning of the event and see if there are still places available. Quantities are limited. With this offer we work without registration.
Offer for children unaccompanied by adults.

Guided tour of our current exhibitions.

anmeldung@kunsthalle-bielefeld.de
T 0521 329995018
Fridays from 3 p.m., at weekends and on public holidays on T 0521 32999500

Try artistic techniques for yourself!
Without registration, for adults, teenagers and children with accompaniment.

Highlights

Sharing brings joy and makes room for something new!

Bring along well-preserved clothes that you no longer wear, and discover new favorites among the treasures others have brought. Instead of buying new things, we swap what we already have—it’s sustainable, creative, and community-oriented. In conjunction with our current exhibition, which explores the theme of “sharing” in its various facets, we invite you to a clothing swap party.

Do your clothes show signs of wear or need to be altered?
No problem—in collaboration with Transition Town Bielefeld’s Repair Café, they can be repaired right away, either before or after the swap—giving your new favorite items a new lease on life.

The new find has potential, but it’s still missing that certain something?
There will also be an upcycling station where you can add a personal touch to the clothes you’ve just swapped through creative alterations or custom embellishments.

Whether it’s for swapping, repairing, crafting, or just browsing and chatting. Come by and see how sharing leads to new connections.

 

The event is part of the cooperation project “Building Bridges – Creative and Sustainable”. This is a joint project of the Bildungsstätte Einschlingen, the IBZ Friedenshaus e.V. and the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. The aim of the project is to bring people from different backgrounds together through shared interests. The project aims to help people come into contact with each other beyond their usual social groups.

A short guided tour during the lunch break, offering a brief but in-depth look at a work of art. This time, Kunsthalle Director Christina Végh will take you on a tour of the exhibition.

How much conflict can art withstand? And who actually decides what art is?

With “Hot Takes! Kunsthalle Bielefeld x Debattierclub Bielefeld” is an event organized by the Kunsthalle Bielefeld in collaboration with the Debattierclub Bielefeld, inviting participants to take a closer look at controversial perspectives on art. The starting point is a series of provocative theses on the subject of art that regularly spark public debate. You often hear statements like “Anyone can make art” or “Art must be political,” but people rarely delve deeper into these controversial claims. In short debates, members of the Bielefeld Debate Club present and discuss arguments from different perspectives. In doing so, the debaters deliberately take positions that do not necessarily reflect their own views, in keeping with a culture of open debate. Who presents a convincing argument? That’s up to the audience. It’s not about finding definitive answers, but about learning about different perspectives and questioning your own views.

The event is open to anyone interested. “Hot Takes!” offers the opportunity to view the current exhibition from new perspectives and to experience art as a starting point for social dialogue.

The event was developed in collaboration with the Department of Art History at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, led by Prof. Dr. Timo Skrandies, and is being organized in collaboration with the Bielefeld Debate Club.

Am Tag des offenen Denkmals öffnet die Kunsthalle Bielefeld ihre Türen bei freiem Eintritt für alle Besucher*innen.

Nutzen Sie die Gelegenheit, das von dem renommierten US-amerikanischen Architekten Philip Johnson entworfene Gebäude zu entdecken und die aktuellen Ausstellungen zu besuchen. Die Kunsthalle zählt zu den bedeutendsten Architekturdenkmälern der Nachkriegsmoderne in Deutschland und verbindet auf einzigartige Weise Kunst und Architektur.

Neben dem freien Eintritt finden um 14:30 und 16:30 zwei Architekturführungen statt. Dabei erhalten Besucher*innen spannende Einblicke in die Entstehungsgeschichte des Hauses, die architektonischen Besonderheiten des Gebäudes sowie seine Bedeutung für die Stadt Bielefeld.

Bitte beachten: für die öffentlichen Führungen um 11:30 und 16:00 fallen 3,50 Euro Führungsgebühr an, der Eintritt ist kostenlos.

The Volksbank in East Westphalia and the Kunsthalle Bielefeld invite you to the next installment of the popular Sound Collection on Friday, September 25, 2026. Starting at 6 p.m., visitors can explore the current exhibitions while enjoying electronic music from the DJs of the Bielefeld-based collective NrzP.

Due to rising visitor numbers, the Sound Collection will remain open until 10 p.m. Admission to the Kunsthalle is until 9:30 p.m.

The Sound Collection has been a regular part of the exhibitions at Kunsthalle Bielefeld since 2021. The format combines art and music in a relaxed atmosphere and is generously sponsored by the Volksbank in Ostwestfalen. The centerpiece is the cooperation with the Bielefeld DJ collective Nummer zu Platz, which lends the event series its special signature.

The “Café Gemach Manhattan” in the Kunsthalle provides a relaxed atmosphere with a selection of drinks from 6 pm to 1 am. Here you can also dance to the music of the DJs. Admission to the Kunsthalle Bielefeld is free on this evening.

What does it mean to share—and why is it so relevant today? To accompany the first part of the exhibition *Divided Views*, we invite you to an evening event that explores the topic from various academic perspectives. In short keynote talks, Thomas Faist (sociologist, University of Bielefeld), Franca Parianen (neuroscientist), and Timo Skrandies (art historian, University of Düsseldorf) will discuss community, cooperation, and responsibility, as well as the question of under what conditions people share—or choose not to.
Afterward, the three guests will engage in conversation with one another and with the audience. An opportunity to explore the exhibition’s themes together and connect art with current social issues.

 

Offers

KB Journal

Artist interview with Lars Rosenbohm

A slim man, about 50 years old, wearing a brown T-shirt and blue jeans, leaning against the frame of a room door. He is wearing horn-rimmed glasses with thin brown frames. In the background are stretcher frames and paintings wrapped in bubble wrap.

The Bielefeld artist Lars Rosenbohm explores the human condition in his haunting, sometimes disturbing depictions and reflects experiences of our time. Questions for the artist about his work from curator Felicitas von Richthofen.

A slim man, about 50 years old, wearing a brown T-shirt and blue jeans, leaning against the frame of a room door. He is wearing horn-rimmed glasses with thin brown frames. In the background are stretcher frames and paintings wrapped in bubble wrap.

Thomas Handke: What does the Kunsthalle Bielefeld sound like?
Cooperation with the HSBI 2022/23

Yana Wernicke: From quarry to art gallery – the red Main sandstone
Cooperation with the HSBI 2022/23

Rising red sandstone in the quarry with traces of cut stones.
Rising red sandstone in the quarry with traces of cut stones.

Vincent Hölscher: Engine room
Cooperation with the HSBI 2022/23

Galvanised pipework, partly at right angles.
Galvanised pipework, partly at right angles.

Jonas Feige: The atmosphere of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld
Cooperation with the HSBI 2022/23

A curved reflection of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld building. Columns and the protruding first floor can be recognised.
A curved reflection of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld building. Columns and the protruding first floor can be recognised.

These are our architects
Caruso St John Architects have been appointed

Five people stand in a row in front of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. They look cheerful.

Caruso St John have been appointed architects for the renovation of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld

Five people stand in a row in front of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. They look cheerful.

The path to a climate-friendly museum
A contribution by Prof. Peter Gorschlüter

Presentation slide for the Museum Folkwang

A blog post by Prof. Peter Gorschlüter on his lecture ‘The path to a climate-friendly museum’.

Presentation slide for the Museum Folkwang

Look up – the road to a green museum
A contribution by Prof. Dr. Stefan Simon

A labyrinth of various pipes, cylinders and measurement displays. In the bottom right corner it states: Air conditioning Humboldt Forum, Berlin.

A blog post by Prof. Dr. Stefan Simon on his lecture ‘Look up – the path to the green museum’.

A labyrinth of various pipes, cylinders and measurement displays. In the bottom right corner it states: Air conditioning Humboldt Forum, Berlin.

Peace with Gaia – perspectives, possibilities and limits of cultural institutions in the sustainability transformation process
A contribution from Ministerial Councillor Ralph Zinnikus

Black and white photo of an old globe in a wooden frame with four legs and a ring around the equator.

A blog post by Ministerialrat Ralph Zinnikus on his lecture ‘Peace with Gaia – perspectives, possibilities and limits of cultural institutions in the sustainability transformation process’.

Black and white photo of an old globe in a wooden frame with four legs and a ring around the equator.

Curating as Care Work: Of the Museum Climate in Planetary Interdependencies and Cultural Imaginaries.
A contribution by Prof. Dr. Elke Krasny

Dark beige background with black lettering: Curating as care work imagines and practices grief work and care for the future and insists on the hope that a culture of the living, in which human and non-human living beings can breathe again with their planet Earth, is possible.

A blog post by Prof. Dr. Elke Krasny on her lecture ‘Curating as care work: On the museum climate in planetary interdependencies and cultural imaginaries’.

Dark beige background with black lettering: Curating as care work imagines and practices grief work and care for the future and insists on the hope that a culture of the living, in which human and non-human living beings can breathe again with their planet Earth, is possible.

The city, the box, the art and the climate. Attempt at a relational reassembly
A contribution by Prof. Dipl. Ing. Bernd Kniess

On a white background is written several times in black handwriting, in various sizes: Museum, below a square through which is written ,Power

A blog post by Prof. Dipl. Ing. Bernd Kniess on his lecture ‘The city, the box, art and the climate. Attempt at a relational reassembly’.

On a white background is written several times in black handwriting, in various sizes: Museum, below a square through which is written ,Power

Exhibiting and preserving as toxic paradigms. Can cultural institutions negotiate the environmental crisis?
A contribution by Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schneemann

A large fire at dusk. It eats its way through a construction of wooden slats that form a building.

A blog post by Prof. Dr. Peter J. Schneemann on his lecture ‘Exhibiting and preserving as toxic paradigms. Can cultural institutions negotiate the environmental crisis?

A large fire at dusk. It eats its way through a construction of wooden slats that form a building.

Rewilding the white cube: the role of art museums in tackling the climate emergency
A contribution from Frances Morris

A very high, shaft-like room. The entire floor is covered by a white, paintable surface on which countless drawings can be seen. People can be seen adding drawings all over the room. Large sheets of white fabric covered with splashes of paint hang from the ceiling.

A blog post by Frances Morris on her talk ‘Rewilding the white cube: the role of art museums in addressing climate emergency’.

A very high, shaft-like room. The entire floor is covered by a white, paintable surface on which countless drawings can be seen. People can be seen adding drawings all over the room. Large sheets of white fabric covered with splashes of paint hang from the ceiling.

The spatial culture of the museum
A contribution by Prof. Dr. Kali Tzorzti

On the left side six pictures of white painted exhibition rooms. Art from the Middle Ages hangs on the walls. To the right is a floor plan drawing with many black lines running through the rooms at different densities, on different paths. A red line marks a circular path through the rooms.

A blog post by Prof. Dr. Kali Tzorzti on her keynote lecture ‘The spatial culture of museums’.

On the left side six pictures of white painted exhibition rooms. Art from the Middle Ages hangs on the walls. To the right is a floor plan drawing with many black lines running through the rooms at different densities, on different paths. A red line marks a circular path through the rooms.

Vulnerable Processes. Vulnerable Processes. A Curatorial Reflection on the Museum in Transition.
A contribution by Prof. Dr. Doreen Mende

On the left, an oblong, rectangular flyer in magenta, on the right one in yellow. In large black letters on the top of both is written: Stannaki Forum Art and Research in Conversation. Below that on the left it says: 05.04.23 Motif, FROMPO. On the right it says: 07.06.23 Mining, AQU.

A blog post by Prof. Dr. Doreen Mende on his keynote lecture ,Vulnerable Processes. A Curatorial Reflection on the Museum in Transition.’

On the left, an oblong, rectangular flyer in magenta, on the right one in yellow. In large black letters on the top of both is written: Stannaki Forum Art and Research in Conversation. Below that on the left it says: 05.04.23 Motif, FROMPO. On the right it says: 07.06.23 Mining, AQU.

Abhängen statt aufhängen? – Museum Spaces and the New Ethics of Communitization
A contribution by Prof. Dr. Karen van den Berg

In a yellow-painted hall-like space stands a large seating area. The stair-like construction is made of poles from scaffolding and wooden boards.

A blog post by Prof. Dr. Karen van den Berg on his impulse lecture ,Hang up instead of hanging up? – Museum Spaces and the New Ethics of Communion’.

In a yellow-painted hall-like space stands a large seating area. The stair-like construction is made of poles from scaffolding and wooden boards.